Week 1: Humanity in the 21st Century. The current situation of humanity and considering the prospects for the century ahead. Reflecting on our own personalities and feelings about the present and the future.
Two Perspectives : James Martin's 21st Century problems vs Matt Ridley's rational optism : James Martin-
“We are traveling at breakneck speed into an era of extremes—extremes of wealth and poverty, extremes in technology, extremes of globalism,” he writes. “If we are to survive, we must learn how to manage them all.”
Martin believes we are approaching a kind of cultural and environmental critical mass — what Martin calls “the canyon years”, which he estimates will occur mid-century — a period when we might endanger the planet’s very ability to maintain its equilibrium in the face of increasing overpopulation, overexploitation and overconsumption. What he describes as a natural “correction” might then take place. Without urgent preventative measures being taken, he foresees a catastrophic culling of humankind’s billions by way of pandemics, famine and extreme climate change. Earth will finally revolt against the relentless punishment humankind metes out, particularly if the global population continues to follow this type of exponential growth curve (revolutionary improvements in medical science since World War Two have lowered mortality rates but done nothing to curb birth rates — the world’s population grew from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 6.5 billion in 2005 and will reach almost nine billion before 2050 if current trends continue). Martin also believes humankind’s time-proven ability to loose War on itself is not going to diminish in the 21st century. A confrontation between superpowers wielding doomsday weapons remains unlikely. But the growing schisms between rich and poor countries, the Islamic and Christian worlds, the educated and uneducated, are all likely flash-points in potentially devastating future struggles for resources and cultural primacy. And then there is the ever-present spectre of free-lance warfare in the form of nuclear or biological terrorism. Devices once only found in the superpowers’ arsenals can now be easily assembled and delivered to targets not in warheads but in a fanatic’s suitcase. He also advocates a type of global Marshall Plan for the underdeveloped and non-developed countries — and a fairer distribution of increasingly limited resources. The alternative is a world doomed to resurgent tribal warfare in ugly new forms. Martin beliefs that the runaway technological advances of recent decades cannot be viewed in scientific, economic or cultural isolation. A complex spiderwork of relationships and interrelationships exists between computing and communications breakthroughs and the economic and social changes they have triggered in the West (as well as collateral impact on developing, underdeveloped or entirely destitute countries). There are all manner of far-reaching consequences — both intended and unintended– reverberating around the world along the delicate web of fibre optic cables now girdling it. It’s not just a Wired Society, Martin argues, but a wired-together one. And it’s not just the Culture Shock principle we have to be mindful of but the ongoing and seemingly unending series of cultural aftershocks stemming from our wrenching transition to the Information Age: aftershocks manifesting themselves in everything from unemployment lines in the West made up of those left jobless by new production techniques to snaking lines of volunteers for terror armies in the underdeveloped world.
Matt Ridley- Ridley creates a wide-ranging history of human society from early hunter-gatherer groups into the early 21st century. He argues that human beings have an often underestimated capacity for change and social progress. From early on in human evolution, Ridley writes, trade and other kinds of exchanges between groups "gave the Species an external, collective intelligence". He continues with histories of socio-economic progress under free market capitalism and democratic civil institutions. He then dismisses what he sees as overly pessimistic views of global climate change and Western birthrate decline. The book contains numerous graphs depicting social changes, such as how world GDP per person grew from about $1,000 in 1900 to $6,000 in 2000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Ridley
Week 2: The What, Who and How of IHS What is integrated human studies? Who can it benefit? How can it be practiced? This topic introduces integrated human studies as a field, explores its relevance for a range of professions and interests and introduces the range of practices that can support this field of inquiry.
IHS: definition
IHS is a broad education field that :
-brings together the human and social sciences, humanities & practical disciplines
-address big questions & the 21st century challeanges & opportunities
-focuses on the origins, nature, current condition & future of humankind
IHS: knowldge, skills and action Integrated human studies = Big questions & wicked problems( Knowing )Multiple perspectives& ways of seeing + 21st Century skills( Learning )Integrated methods of inquiry & research + Using social media & networking( Acting )Active citizenship & leadership
What : contemporary, current questions 15 Global Challanges facing humanity:- 1. sustainable development 2. clean water 3. population & resources 4. democratization 5. long-term perspectives 6. global convergence of IT 7. rich-poor gap 8. health issues 9. capacity to decide 10. peace & conflict 11. status of women 12. transnational organized crime 13. energy 14. science & technology 15. global ethics What : eternal questions
where did we come from, where are we, what does it mean to be human, where are we going, where do we want to go, how do we get there ? Where did we come from ?
great transitions, evolution Where are we?
poverty & pollution, space, food abundance, environmental degredation etc What does it mean to be human?
body - physical, action
mind- thoughts
psyche -identity, soul, spirituality Where are we going?
business as usual? collapse? transformation? Where do we want to go ? How do we get there?
political reform, activism, corporate responsibility
(incorporating action learning, action research methods, ways to achieve goals thru action) Who : a community of inquirers
artists, business people, lawyers, scientists, writers, students, teachers, health workers, NGO workers How : collaborative inquiry
(Big questions ? ) Different modes of inquiry
(your ideas) + (other's ideas) different views = common ground
-use different modes of inquiry to answer the big questions, combining your ideas with other peoples ideas & different ways of seeing things (collaborative inquiry), then reaching a common ground.
How : build an online community of inquiry
(social interraction) + (individual learning) + (teaching and guidance) = online community of inquiry
Week 3: Wicked problems in a complex world This topic looks at global challenges like global warming, resource depletion and the population explosion as wicked problems - in other words, problems that are extremely complex and therefore difficult to solve.
Wicked Problems :
Complex problems beyond the capacity of any one oranization to understand and respond to, often there are disagreements about the cuases of the problems & the best way to tackle them.
e.g climatic change, resource depletion, population explosion
AsRittel defined them, wicked problems are distinguished bythe following characteristics:
You don’t understand the problem until you have developed a solution.
Wicked problems have no stopping rule. -Since there is no definitive ‘The Problem’, there is also no definitive ‘The Solution.’ The problem solving process ends when you run out of resources, such as time, money, or energy, not when some optimal or ‘final and correct’ solution emerges.
Solutions to wicked problems are not right or wrong.
Every wicked problem is essentially unique and novel.
Every solution to a wicked problem is a ‘one-shot operation.’
Wicked problems have no given alternative solutions.
Complex systems and interdisciplinary
A complex system is a systemcomposed of interconnected parts that as a wholeexhibit one or more properties(behavior among the possible properties) not obviousfrom the properties of theindividual parts.
Phenomena such asclimate change can be seen as the behavior (observable result) of complexsystems.
A system is an organized orconnected group ofthings or parts.
Like all systems, comlex systems aregreater than the sum of their parts. Unlike simple systems, complexsystems transcend the scope of individual disciplines.
systems1.jpg
Individual disciplines asparticularperspectives or ways of seeing study facets or sub-systems of complexsystemsbut cannot perceive the whole.
For example,environmental sciencetraditionally looks at physical climate systems but doesnot always attempt tocomprehend the entire complex system of climate changethat has emerged out ofthe interaction of environmental, social, political, economic,cultural,psychological and other factors.
Physical climate systems are one part ofthecomplex environmental, social, political, economic, cultural, psychologicalandother factors that underlie climate change.
systems2.jpg
Ininvestigating complex systems, focus questions act like prisms and areessential for constructing a particular dimension of the problem to investigateand for selecting a particular set of disciplines that provide insights intothis dimension.
systems3.jpg
In investigating climate change, the abovequestion helps to construct a particular dimension of this problem toinvestigate and to select perspectives like those above as most relevant to afocus on beliefs about climate change.
Once the issue hasbeen narrowed, interdisciplinary research often then involves‘ working backwardfrom the phenomenon and forward from the sub-systems studied by differentdisciplines’ (Newell 2001, p.20), until a more coherent understanding of theproblem emerges.
Week 4: Integrated methods and approaches
What does integration mean and how can we doit? Integration •integrate(v): combine partsinto a whole •integrated human studies:bringing the human and social sciences and the humanities together
Why is integration necessary? •Fragmentation resulting fromspecialization and disciplinarity •CP Snow (1959): TwoCultures -lack of communication andmutual understanding between the humanities and sciences.
The goal of Integrated Human Studies is to bring together the Sciences, Humanities and practical disciplines to work towards human wellbeing and global sustainability. How can this be done? This topic looks at interdisciplinary methods of integrating disciplinary perspectives and working towards common ground.
trans3.gif
The desire to provide more holistic educational experiences has led many to have a closer look at integrated learning and transdisciplinary inquiry. A search of the internet will bring up many schools and universities claiming to offer transdisciplinary learning but closer inspection reveals quite different interpretations of the terms.
What is Transdisciplinary Inquiry? Although little distinction is sometimes made between multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary inquiry many would argue that there is a significant difference - particularly for older students. Transdisciplinary approaches involve multiple disciplines and the space between the disciplines with the possibility of new perspectives 'beyond' those disciplines. Where multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary inquiry may focus on the contribution of disciplines to an inquiry transdisciplinary inquiry tends to focus on the inquiry or issue itself.
Disciplinary: Epistemologies, assumptions, knowledge, skills, methods within the boundary of a discipline. eg. Physics; History; Psychology Multidisciplinary: Using the knowledge/understanding of more than one discipline. eg Physics and History; Biology and Architecture Interdisciplinary: Using the epistemologies/methods of one discipline within another. eg. Biochemistry; Ecophilosophy; Astrophysics Transdisciplinary: Focus on an issue such as pollution or hunger both within and beyond discipline boundaries with the possibility of new perspectives. http://www.hent.org/transdisciplinary.htm
Beginning Steps inInterdisciplinary Research •Define the problem or statethe focus question •Identify relevant perspectives(disciplinary or non-disciplinary) •Conduct a literaturesearch/gather information •Develop a basic understandingof each relevant discipline •Analyse the problem andevaluate each insight into it
Final Steps inInterdisciplinary Research •Identify conflicts betweeninsights and their sources •Create or discover commonground •Integrate insights and producean interdisciplinary understanding of the problem
Week 9: Human and world futures
Agrowing field that has particular relevance for Integrated Human Studies isforesight or future studies. This topic surveys a range of futures methods thatcan complement interdisciplinary methods as ways of tackling wicked problemsand complex issues, as well as providing ways of predicting futurepossibilities.
Future studies:-
Historicallysocieties relied on Astrology and Prophecy to get insights into future events,today, Futures studies is a method used by corporate and government planners tocreate futures. Futures studies is a method of mapping out a future byexamining various possible scenarios taking into account variousinterpretations of reality. The result being the creation of a long-term visionthat can be realized through the participation of multiple stakeholders.
- Futures Studies (colloquially called "futures") is theformal and systematic study of possible, probable, and preferable futures, andof methods of foresight development for individuals, groups, and human society. __http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Futures_Studies__
Where do we want to go? Dimensions of critique - Descriptive vs. normative - Pragmatic vs. utopian - ‘Like all scenarios, Market Force is a normative vision of thefuture’ (Raskin al, p22) - “Business-as-usual” is a utopian fantasy-forging a new socialvision is a pragmatic necessity” (Raskin et al, p29)
Great Transition - Quality of life and material sufficiency - Human solidarity and global equity - Affinity with nature - Environmental sufficiency
‘This is not the end of history. In some sense it is thebeginning. For at last, people live with a deep awareness of their connectionto one another, future generations and the web of life’ (Raskin et al, p45)
Where do we want to go? Criteria for judging visions: -Sustainable -Pragmatic -Desirable
8801 Learning Journal
Week 1: Humanity in the 21st Century.
The current situation of humanity and considering the prospects for the century ahead. Reflecting on our own personalities and feelings about the present and the future.
Two Perspectives : James Martin's 21st Century problems vs Matt Ridley's rational optism :
James Martin-
“We are traveling at breakneck speed into an era of extremes—extremes of wealth and poverty, extremes in technology, extremes of globalism,” he writes. “If we are to survive, we must learn how to manage them all.”
Martin believes we are approaching a kind of cultural and environmental critical mass — what Martin calls “the canyon years”, which he estimates will occur mid-century — a period when we might endanger the planet’s very ability to maintain its equilibrium in the face of increasing overpopulation, overexploitation and overconsumption. What he describes as a natural “correction” might then take place. Without urgent preventative measures being taken, he foresees a catastrophic culling of humankind’s billions by way of pandemics, famine and extreme climate change. Earth will finally revolt against the relentless punishment humankind metes out, particularly if the global population continues to follow this type of exponential growth curve (revolutionary improvements in medical science since World War Two have lowered mortality rates but done nothing to curb birth rates — the world’s population grew from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 6.5 billion in 2005 and will reach almost nine billion before 2050 if current trends continue).
Martin also believes humankind’s time-proven ability to loose War on itself is not going to diminish in the 21st century. A confrontation between superpowers wielding doomsday weapons remains unlikely. But the growing schisms between rich and poor countries, the Islamic and Christian worlds, the educated and uneducated, are all likely flash-points in potentially devastating future struggles for resources and cultural primacy. And then there is the ever-present spectre of free-lance warfare in the form of nuclear or biological terrorism. Devices once only found in the superpowers’ arsenals can now be easily assembled and delivered to targets not in warheads but in a fanatic’s suitcase. He also advocates a type of global Marshall Plan for the underdeveloped and non-developed countries — and a fairer distribution of increasingly limited resources. The alternative is a world doomed to resurgent tribal warfare in ugly new forms.
Martin beliefs that the runaway technological advances of recent decades cannot be viewed in scientific, economic or cultural isolation. A complex spiderwork of relationships and interrelationships exists between computing and communications breakthroughs and the economic and social changes they have triggered in the West (as well as collateral impact on developing, underdeveloped or entirely destitute countries). There are all manner of far-reaching consequences — both intended and unintended– reverberating around the world along the delicate web of fibre optic cables now girdling it. It’s not just a Wired Society, Martin argues, but a wired-together one. And it’s not just the Culture Shock principle we have to be mindful of but the ongoing and seemingly unending series of cultural aftershocks stemming from our wrenching transition to the Information Age: aftershocks manifesting themselves in everything from unemployment lines in the West made up of those left jobless by new production techniques to snaking lines of volunteers for terror armies in the underdeveloped world.
Matt Ridley-
Ridley creates a wide-ranging history of human society from early hunter-gatherer groups into the early 21st century. He argues that human beings have an often underestimated capacity for change and social progress. From early on in human evolution, Ridley writes, trade and other kinds of exchanges between groups "gave the Species an external, collective intelligence". He continues with histories of socio-economic progress under free market capitalism and democratic civil institutions. He then dismisses what he sees as overly pessimistic views of global climate change and Western birthrate decline. The book contains numerous graphs depicting social changes, such as how world GDP per person grew from about $1,000 in 1900 to $6,000 in 2000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Ridley
Week 2: The What, Who and How of IHS
What is integrated human studies? Who can it benefit? How can it be practiced? This topic introduces integrated human studies as a field, explores its relevance for a range of professions and interests and introduces the range of practices that can support this field of inquiry.
IHS: definition
IHS is a broad education field that :
-brings together the human and social sciences, humanities & practical disciplines
-address big questions & the 21st century challeanges & opportunities
-focuses on the origins, nature, current condition & future of humankind
IHS: knowldge, skills and action
Integrated human studies =
Big questions & wicked problems ( Knowing ) Multiple perspectives & ways of seeing
+
21st Century skills ( Learning ) Integrated methods of inquiry & research
+
Using social media & networking ( Acting ) Active citizenship & leadership
What : contemporary, current questions
15 Global Challanges facing humanity:- 1. sustainable development 2. clean water 3. population & resources 4. democratization 5. long-term perspectives 6. global convergence of IT 7. rich-poor gap 8. health issues 9. capacity to decide 10. peace & conflict 11. status of women 12. transnational organized crime 13. energy 14. science & technology 15. global ethics
What : eternal questions
where did we come from, where are we, what does it mean to be human, where are we going, where do we want to go, how do we get there ?
Where did we come from ?
great transitions, evolution
Where are we?
poverty & pollution, space, food abundance, environmental degredation etc
What does it mean to be human?
body - physical, action
mind- thoughts
psyche -identity, soul, spirituality
Where are we going?
business as usual? collapse? transformation?
Where do we want to go ? How do we get there?
political reform, activism, corporate responsibility
(incorporating action learning, action research methods, ways to achieve goals thru action)
Who : a community of inquirers
artists, business people, lawyers, scientists, writers, students, teachers, health workers, NGO workers
How : collaborative inquiry
(Big questions ? ) Different modes of inquiry
(your ideas) + (other's ideas) different views = common ground
-use different modes of inquiry to answer the big questions, combining your ideas with other peoples ideas & different ways of seeing things (collaborative inquiry), then reaching a common ground.
How : build an online community of inquiry
(social interraction) + (individual learning) + (teaching and guidance) = online community of inquiry
Week 3: Wicked problems in a complex world
This topic looks at global challenges like global warming, resource depletion and the population explosion as wicked problems - in other words, problems that are extremely complex and therefore difficult to solve.
Wicked Problems :
Complex problems beyond the capacity of any one oranization to understand and respond to, often there are disagreements about the cuases of the problems & the best way to tackle them.
e.g climatic change, resource depletion, population explosion
AsRittel defined them, wicked problems are distinguished
bythe following characteristics:
Complex systems and interdisciplinary
A complex system is a systemcomposed of interconnected parts that as a wholeexhibit one or more properties(behavior among the possible properties) not obviousfrom the properties of theindividual parts.
Examples ofcomplex systemsfor which complexity models havebeen developed include ant colonies,human economies and socialstructures, climate,nervous systems, cells and living things, includinghumanbeings, as well as modern energy or telecommunication infrastructures.Indeed,many systems of interest to humans are complex systems.
Complex systemsarestudied by many areas of natural science, mathematics, and social science. Fields thatspecialize inthe interdisciplinary study of complex systems include systems theory, complexity theory,systems ecology, and cybernetics.
Phenomena such asclimate change can be seen as the behavior (observable result) of complexsystems.
A system is an organized orconnected group ofthings or parts.
Like all systems, comlex systems aregreater than the sum of their parts.
Unlike simple systems, complexsystems transcend the scope of individual disciplines.
Individual disciplines asparticularperspectives or ways of seeing study facets or sub-systems of complexsystemsbut cannot perceive the whole.
For example,environmental sciencetraditionally looks at physical climate systems but doesnot always attempt tocomprehend the entire complex system of climate changethat has emerged out ofthe interaction of environmental, social, political, economic,cultural,psychological and other factors.
Physical climate systems are one part ofthecomplex environmental, social, political, economic, cultural, psychologicalandother factors that underlie climate change.
Ininvestigating complex systems, focus questions act like prisms and areessential for constructing a particular dimension of the problem to investigateand for selecting a particular set of disciplines that provide insights intothis dimension.
In investigating climate change, the abovequestion helps to construct a particular dimension of this problem toinvestigate and to select perspectives like those above as most relevant to afocus on beliefs about climate change.
Once the issue hasbeen narrowed, interdisciplinary research often then involves‘ working backwardfrom the phenomenon and forward from the sub-systems studied by differentdisciplines’ (Newell 2001, p.20), until a more coherent understanding of theproblem emerges.
Week 4: Integrated methods and approaches
What does integration mean and how can we doit?
Integration
•integrate(v): combine partsinto a whole
•integrated human studies:bringing the human and social sciences and the humanities together
Why is integration necessary?
•Fragmentation resulting fromspecialization and disciplinarity
•CP Snow (1959): TwoCultures
-lack of communication andmutual understanding between the humanities and sciences.
The goal of Integrated Human Studies is to bring together the Sciences, Humanities and practical disciplines to work towards human wellbeing and global sustainability. How can this be done? This topic looks at interdisciplinary methods of integrating disciplinary perspectives and working towards common ground.
The desire to provide more holistic educational experiences has led many to have a closer look at integrated learning and transdisciplinary inquiry. A search of the internet will bring up many schools and universities claiming to offer transdisciplinary learning but closer inspection reveals quite different interpretations of the terms.
What is Transdisciplinary Inquiry?
Although little distinction is sometimes made between multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary inquiry many would argue that there is a significant difference - particularly for older students. Transdisciplinary approaches involve multiple disciplines and the space between the disciplines with the possibility of new perspectives 'beyond' those disciplines. Where multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary inquiry may focus on the contribution of disciplines to an inquiry transdisciplinary inquiry tends to focus on the inquiry or issue itself.
Disciplinary: Epistemologies, assumptions, knowledge, skills, methods within the boundary of a discipline.
eg. Physics; History; Psychology
Multidisciplinary: Using the knowledge/understanding of more than one discipline.
eg Physics and History; Biology and Architecture
Interdisciplinary: Using the epistemologies/methods of one discipline within another.
eg. Biochemistry; Ecophilosophy; Astrophysics
Transdisciplinary: Focus on an issue such as pollution or hunger both within and beyond discipline boundaries with the possibility of new perspectives.
http://www.hent.org/transdisciplinary.htm
Beginning Steps inInterdisciplinary Research
•Define the problem or statethe focus question
•Identify relevant perspectives(disciplinary or non-disciplinary)
•Conduct a literaturesearch/gather information
•Develop a basic understandingof each relevant discipline
•Analyse the problem andevaluate each insight into it
Final Steps inInterdisciplinary Research
•Identify conflicts betweeninsights and their sources
•Create or discover commonground
•Integrate insights and producean interdisciplinary understanding of the problem
Week 9: Human and world futures
Agrowing field that has particular relevance for Integrated Human Studies isforesight or future studies. This topic surveys a range of futures methods thatcan complement interdisciplinary methods as ways of tackling wicked problemsand complex issues, as well as providing ways of predicting futurepossibilities.
Future studies:-
Historicallysocieties relied on Astrology and Prophecy to get insights into future events,today, Futures studies is a method used by corporate and government planners tocreate futures. Futures studies is a method of mapping out a future byexamining various possible scenarios taking into account variousinterpretations of reality. The result being the creation of a long-term visionthat can be realized through the participation of multiple stakeholders.
- Futures Studies (colloquially called "futures") is theformal and systematic study of possible, probable, and preferable futures, andof methods of foresight development for individuals, groups, and human society.
__http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Futures_Studies__
-Futures practitionersuse a wide range of models and methods (theory and practice), many of whichcome from other academic disciplines, including __economics__, __sociology__, __geography__, __history__, __engineering__, __mathematics__, __psychology__, __technology__, __tourism__, __physics__, __biology__, __astronomy__, and aspects of __theology__ (specifically,the range of future beliefs).
__http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurology__
Where are we going? : -
Where do we want to go?
Dimensions of critique
- Descriptive vs. normative
- Pragmatic vs. utopian
- ‘Like all scenarios, Market Force is a normative vision of thefuture’ (Raskin al, p22)
- “Business-as-usual” is a utopian fantasy-forging a new socialvision is a pragmatic necessity” (Raskin et al, p29)
Great Transition
- Quality of life and material sufficiency
- Human solidarity and global equity
- Affinity with nature
- Environmental sufficiency
‘This is not the end of history. In some sense it is thebeginning.
For at last, people live with a deep awareness of their connectionto one another, future generations and the web of life’ (Raskin et al, p45)
Where do we want to go?
Criteria for judging visions:
-Sustainable
-Pragmatic
-Desirable
SUSTAINABILITY